Chopsticks

Chapter 4: Watch Where You're Going

 "AJUMA YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED!" I yelled, jumping into the shop. Ajuma was standing behind her desk, arguing with some customers. They didn't seem to hear me since they were yelling too- even though I thought I was pretty loud. I took a closer look at the customers, they looked somewhat familiar. As I got closer, I came to realize the man was the leader of the Black Finned dragons. I also realized I didn't know his name. I decided to call him Meat Head. It fit him well. I crept forward to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Listen, lady, we need some good weapons, but we ain't got the time or money to pay for it, so how about we get it for free?" Meat Head growled. For free? Yeah right. I thought angrily.

I started to walk forward, getting ready to attack him, when suddenly Ajuma's eyes locked with mine. She looked confused at first, but once she recognised me she silently told me to stay away, and turned to face Meat Head again.

"You won't be getting anything unless you pay." Ajuma stated firmly. I obediently stood behind a shelf of swords about five feet away from Meat Head and his two man posse.

"Oh, we have our way of gettin' what we want." Meat Head said, pulling out a sharp shiny object from his pocket. It was a knife. "Whaddya say, lady?" he asked, I saw his crooked grin in the reflection of a sword behind the desk.

"Never." Ajuma spat. I watched in horror as Meat Head's face twisted into look of rage, and he raised his knife. I couldn't stay planted any longer.

"Hey! Meat Head!" I barked. The three men turned to look at me. Ajuma stared at me in shock. The funny thing was, I was as surprised as she was. Mostly because the name Meat Head was supposed to be kept private for longer than a couple of seconds.

"Well look who decided to drop by, fellas. It's the little girl from the sign in area." Meat Head sneered. For a second my heart stopped, thinking I'd been found out. I realized he was just being mean.

"You're the one pulling a knife on a sweet old lady, are you sure you're the manly one?" I growled, regaining confidence. Meat Head clenched his jaw.

"Wanna find out, punk?" he threatened. He yelled and raised his knife, starting to run at me. My eyes widened and I did the only logical thing I could think of- I ran.

I ran straight out of the door followed by Meat Head and Meat Head jr. one and two. Luckily there weren't too many people out shopping, seeing that it was going to be dark soon.

"Run, boy, run!" I heard a shop owner yell. I looked over and gave a thumbs up. I could out run these goons any day. I turned my head to look back to where I was headed. Unfortunately, I did so a little too late, and accidentally tackled someone. We tumbled forward. When we came to a stop I slowly got up. Yes, I was in pain, but this person probably got it a whole lot worse. I blinked a few times and looked over at whoever was unfortunate enough to get in my way. It was a guy. He brushed his dark hair out his face, eyes still closed while laying on the ground. His face looked familiar. It was Katsu. Extremely flustered, I tried to think of what to do. Suddenly a dark shadow loomed over us. I looked up. Meat Head had caught up.

"Ha! Ya thought you could outrun me? Wrong!" He yelled triumphantly. I had to think fast.

"Oh, so trying to stab an old lady wasn't enough, now you want to stab a kid?" I asked, trying to buy time- Although I was probably only delaying my death.

"You might be tiny, but you sure as heck ain't a kid. Ain't no kid got acne scars that bad." Meat head said with a chuckle. I didn't understand what he was trying get at by insulting my skin- his skin looked like an ant nest attacked his face, then he battled a tiger. Either way, I wasn't going to let it go.